Editing Arizona Territory (section)

===American Civil War===
{{Further|New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|Confederate Arizona}}

At the outbreak of the Civil War, sentiment in the territory was in favor of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Territorial [[secession]] conventions called at [[Mesilla, New Mexico|Mesilla]] and Tucson in March 1861 adopted an ordinance of secession, established a provisional [[Confederate Arizona|Arizona Territory]] with Owings as its governor, and petitioned the Confederate Congress for admission.

The Confederacy regarded the territory as a valuable route for possible access to the [[Pacific Ocean]], with the specific intention of capturing [[California]]. In July 1861, a small Confederate force of Texans under the command of Lieutenant Colonel [[John R. Baylor]] assaulted [[Fort Fillmore]] at Mesilla in the eastern part of the territory. After the fort was abandoned by the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] garrison, Baylor's force cut off the fleeing Union troops and forced them to surrender. On August 1, 1861, Baylor issued a "Proclamation to the People of the Territory of Arizona", taking possession of the territory for the Confederacy, with Mesilla as the capital and himself as the governor, establishing [[Confederate Arizona]]. Baylor's subsequent dismantling of the existing Union forts in the territory left the white settlers at the mercy of the [[Apache]], who quickly gained control of the area and forced many of the white settlers to seek refuge in Tucson.<ref>Colton, Ray C.: ''The Civil War...'', pp. 15–19.</ref>

On August 28, a convention met again in Tucson and declared that the territory formed the previous year was part of the Confederacy. [[Granville H. Oury]] was elected as delegate to the Confederate Congress. Oury drafted legislation authorizing the organization of the Confederate Territory of Arizona. The legislation passed on January 13, 1862, and the territory was officially created by proclamation of [[Jefferson Davis|President Jefferson Davis]] on February 14.

The following month, in March 1862, the U.S. House of Representatives, now devoid of the southern delegates and controlled by Republicans, passed a bill to create the United States Arizona Territory using the north–south border of the 109th meridian. The use of a north–south border rather than an east–west one had the effect of denying a ''de facto'' ratification of the Confederate Arizona Territory. The house bill stipulated that Tucson was to be the capital. The final bill passed the Senate in February 1863 without the Tucson-as-capital stipulation, and was signed into law by [[Abraham Lincoln|President Abraham Lincoln]] on February 24, the date of the official organization of the U.S. Arizona Territory.